Pavel Pogrebnyak warmed-up for Reading's Premier League showdown with Stoke City by opening his account in a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.

The Russia striker netted in the second-half at Madejski Stadium after coming close several times in the first 45 minutes.

Adam Le Fondre chipped in with his third of the pre-season campaign to double the score two minutes later, much to the delight of manager Brian McDermott.

"It's important to get your first goal," said McDermott.

"He was unlucky first half, made a great run and Danny Guthrie played him in but he was unfortunate just to knock it over. We'll save them for the league though. Both strikers worked really hard, and we got Noel and Churchy some game time as well, it's important to get people on the pitch."

Stoke manager Tony Pulis was in attendance to witness Royals turn in their best pre-season performance to date.

"I'm a lot happier now, in the Brighton game in midweek we had a good shape and n the second half we played some decent football as well," added McDermott.

"We've got to where we needed to be as far as performance is concerned, especially after the break when we raised it, got good service to the wide players and they delivered, so too the strikers and midfielders. We kept a clean sheet too, so we're ready to go.

"The first half was a little bit low tempo for us, we have to be on the move, high tempo and passing it. We did that second half, got in behind them, scored a couple of goals so we're happy with that to finish off pre-season.

"I've been delighted with all the new signings since we've brought them to the club. They're all good guys who work hard and want to get better. They've got undoubted quality, and add that to their desire you've got a good recipe.

"We're just trying to gel the group, we've got two players for each position which is what I wanted of course.

"We'll prepare right, it's an international break of course as well. We'll look at Stoke, I know Tony Pulis quite well, he's done a phenomenal job and we know it'll be a good game. We're at home, it'll be a full house, back in the Barclays Premier League, it's a fantastic place to be."